Saturday, June 18, 2011

Confessions of a Mom who Vaccinated Her Son

I wish I had known all the things I know now. I was 18 when I had my first son and 21 when I had my second. We were Baptist and we were told that circumcising was what the Bible taught. We were also strongly encouraged to fully vaccinate our children.

If only we had known some basic information about vaccines, my son Ben might be living a healthier, easier life now. When I look back, I don’t see myself as very motherly. I see instead a woman who trusted others to TELL HER what was right for HER children. I wish I had known better and more so that I could have protected them. Unfortunately wishing doesn’t take away the crosses I chose to give them.

Please understand that even now, 5 years later, I am unable to speak or write about this without tears. I apologize in advance.I had 3 of my 8 children fully immunized. I would love to share the reason we stopped with others to hopefully save their children from the same fate my son has suffered.

Ben was born healthy at 37 weeks. He weighed 7 lbs, 3 oz he was a typical baby. He met all of his developmental milestones on time. One July 31st, 2006, I took Ben in for a well child checkup. He was one month away from his 5th birthday. That day the doctor injected him with Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diptheria, Tetanus and Pertussis. When we got home, he had a fever and didn’t feel well. He just wanted to go to sleep. We woke him at dinnertime but he wasn’t hungry and just wanted to sleep.

This behavior was the same as how he had acted after previous vaccination so we didn’t worry too much. The next morning, however, when he woke up I noticed his speech patterns had changed. He was only about 30% intelligible. I also noticed the glands in the back of his neck were quite swollen. Concerned, I called his pediatrician, who said not to worry. I didn’t like that answer so I took him into the office. When I arrived they told me the symptoms he was having could not be caused by the vaccinations and basically laughed that I questioned the possibility at all.

They sent us home, refusing to mark my concerns in his file and with no other explanation of what caused the sudden change. Within a few months he developed severe Asthma that required frequent ER visits. He has had 5 years of speech therapy. We tried a detox and we tried alternative treatment. Since the morning after his vaccinations, his speech has not improved.

I wish I had known. I wish I had never taken him in that day. I trusted other people. They told me that they were looking out for my son. But when something actually happened, they weren’t there to support us or help us. Now my son is the one paying the price.

”You can change your mind and vaccinate, but you can’t unvaccinate if you change your mind.”